Hawks Soar Past Georgia Tech, 66-62

Hawks Soar Past Georgia Tech, 66-62

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March 15, 2001

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The little school that could, did.

Marvin O'Connor scored 13 of his 21 points in the second half when St.Joseph's blew most of an 18-point lead before recovering to beat Georgia Tech66-62 on Thursday in a first-round NCAA tournament game.

St. Joe's, the second-smallest school in the 65-team tournament with 3,450students on its Philadelphia campus, saw its lead dwindle to three points twicein the final 1:43.

But the Yellow Jackets (17-13) came up short on two easy scoring chances.Tony Akins saw his shot spin out of the basket and Alvin Jones, the first Techcenter to be chosen all-Atlantic Coast Conference, missed an alley-oop dunk.

The Hawks (26-6) missed the front end of free-throw attempts by Damian Reidand Jameer Nelson before Nelson hit two foul shots to keep St. Joe's ahead65-60 with 29.7 seconds left.

Nelson added 13 points for St. Joe's, which led by 16 points in the firsthalf.

Akins led Tech with 16 points, including 7-of-7 free throws, and DarrylLaBarrie added 15 points. Jones finished with eight points and 10 reboundsafter being held scoreless in the first half.

Both teams were plagued by sloppiness in a game that saw Tech commit 17turnovers to St. Joe's 14 and neither team shooting better than 40 percent.

St. Joe's, the ninth seed, is back in the NCAAs for the first time sincereaching the final 16 in 1997.

Tech made the tournament for the first time since its final 16 appearance in1996. The Yellow Jackets, whose eighth seed equals their lowest ever, tied forfifth in the ACC, then upset Virginia in the conference tourney before losingto North Carolina in the semifinals.

A 3-pointer by O'Connor gave St. Joe's its largest lead, 46-28, early in thesecond half before the Yellow Jackets awoke.

Tech scored 15 of the next 17 points to get to 48-43 with 11:47 remaining.Jones had his first field goal of the game in the spurt and scored six straightpoints.

Halston Lane missed a dunk, but Tech controlled the rebound and RobertBrooks scored in the lane as the Yellow Jackets trailed 50-47.

O'Connor hit consecutive 3-pointers and scored on a dunk to push St. Joe'slead to 58-49 with 8:18 remaining.

Tied at eight, St. Joe's used an 18-2 run to take a 26-10 lead with 5:43remaining. The Yellow Jackets went just under seven minutes without a fieldgoal in that stretch. Bill Phillips had six points for the Hawks, including abackdoor basket that ended the run.

Georgia Tech got within eight on consecutive 3-pointers by Akins and MarvinLewis, but Tech was outscored 13-4 over the final 3:38 to trail 41-24 at thebreak.

ST. JOSEPH'S (26-6) Wilkins 1-6 2-2 4, Phillips 4-10 1-2 9, Reid 4-7 0-1 8, O'Connor 8-20 2-221, Nelson 5-10 3-5 13, Barley 0-0 0-0 0, Crenshaw 1-7 1-4 4, Woods 0-0 0-0 0,Sazanov 1-1 5-8 7. Totals 24-61 14-24 66.

GEORGIA TECH (17-13) Babul 1-1 0-0 2, Lewis 1-5 2-2 5, Jones 3-6 2-5 8, Akins 4-11 7-7 16, Fein3-11 0-0 6, LaBarrie 5-8 5-6 15, Vines 0-0 0-0 0, Lane 2-9 2-2 7, Brooks 1-21-2 3, Isenhour 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-54 19-24 62.

Halftime score-St. Joseph's 41, Georgia Tech 24. 3-Point Goals-St. Joseph's4-23 (O'Connor 3-8, Crenshaw 1-4, Nelson 0-2, Wilkins 0-3, Phillips 0-6),Georgia Tech 3-18 (Lewis 1-3, Akins 1-4, Lane 1-6, LaBarrie 0-1, Fein 0-4).Fouled out-None. Rebounds-St. Joseph's 40 (Reid 9), Georgia Tech 39 (Jones 12).Assists-St. Joseph's 19 (Nelson 8), Georgia Tech 11 (Akins 6). Total fouls-St.Joseph's 23, Georgia Tech 20. A-9,120